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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-09-29
September 29, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] PDSR Initiative Aimed at Suspending Romania's President from the Job;
[02] ApR, PUNR and PRM Positions on PDSR Accusations against Romania's
President;
[03] A Supreme Court of Justice Ruling;
[04] PNTCD Leader Welcomes the CNACCO Communique;
[05] UDMR Threats to Leave the Governing Coalition;
[06] "Cigarette 2 File": The Indictment Was Read;
[07] Romanian Social Democrat Groups Welcoming the SDP Victory in German
Elections;
[08] Further Debates in the "Caspian Energy to Europe" Conference;
[09] Prime Minister Radu Vasile to Attend the World Bank-IMF Joint Meeting;
[10] Closing Session of the Conference on "Cultural Similarities in
Danubian Region".
[01] PDSR initiative aimed at suspending Romania's president from the job
The opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) has decided the
setting up of a commission monitoring the unconstitutional abuses in the
attempt to open the procedures designed to suspend Romania's president from
his job. TSe announcement was made by PDSR vicepresident Doru Ioan Taracila
at the meeting of the senate on Monday. RADOR
[02] ApR, PUNR and PRM positions on PDSR accusations against Romania's
president
The president of the Alliance for Romania Party (ApR), Teodor Melescanu,
said the PDSR accusations against the Romanian president were extremely
serious. Consequently, his party asked the president to make a statement
over the issue allowing the ApR to examine the opinions of both sides. The
leader of the Romanians' National Unity Party (PUNR), Valeriu Tabara, said
his party would call on the president to present the parliament with a
report. After debates in parliament, then the procedure to suspend the
president may open. Mr Tabara shared Mr Melescanu opinion and said the PDSR
accusations were really serious, though he believed the president rather
tried to warn the judiciary about its inefficiency in fighting corruption.
The leader of the Greater Romania Party (PRM), Corneliu Vadim Tudor, hSs
announced his party would support the PDSR initiative to suspend the
president. RADOR
[03] A Supreme Court of Justice ruling
At its plenum on Monday, Romania's Supreme Court of Justice has decided
that any Romanian court is entitled to rule on property rights abuses
during the communist regime. The decision is actually amending the previous
ruling issued by the former Supreme Court of Justice three years ago. In a
statement to the RRA, Viorel Pascu, a Romanian Bar counsellor, said the
courts were supposed to become the only authority entitled to answer the
complaints involving property right abuses during the 1944-1989 communist
regime. RADOR
[04] PNTCD leader welcomes the CNACCO communique
The leader of the ruling Christian Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD),
Ion Diaconescu, said the meeting and the communique issued by the National
Council for Action against Corruption and Organised Crime (CNACCO) were
extremely welcomed as they answered public concerns about the dSlays in
fighting corruption. Mr Diaconescu believes that the fight against
corruption may go along with a growing efficiency and competence of the
legal framework. He told the PNTCD press conference on Monday that the
Romanian president was right when he warned about the existing connections
between politics and organised crime as such connections were reported all
around the world. Referring to the results of the general elections in
Germany, the PNTCD leader said the change was predictable, but he expected
it was not supposed to affect relations between the two countries. RADOR
[05] UDMR threats to leave the governing coalition
"The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) will leave the
governing coalition unless amendments to the Eduaction Law will be broght
by September 30", UDMR leader said in a statement on Monday. Mr Marko Bela
denied rumours about an alleged secret protocol reached by the coalition
partners over the issue. He accepts the multicultural concSpt, but says
there was no such higher education institution in Romania for the time
being. "The UDMR demand of a Hungarian language teaching state university
is only proving the party's wish to join an educational system which anyone
may control", Mr Marko Bela added. UDMR admits the Romanian as official
language, but says there are regions and situations in the country where
the mother tongue should have a similar status. The UDMR leader said there
was no question about federalisation as long as descentralising the local
administration was most important. The UDMR may be interested in coming
back to the common governing programme, and its leader said he was
convinced his coalition partners shared similar interests. RADOR
[06] "Cigarette 2 File": the indictment was read
The Bucharest City Court has decided on Monday to read the indictment
accusing 6 army officers and 13 civilians of being involved in the
"Cigarette 2 File" concerning two illegal cigarette transports in March and
S April. The court has rejected the defendants' appeal to involve the
National Defence Ministry (MApN), Civilian Airtransport Authority, Otopeni
Military Airport, Customs General Directorate, Transport Ministry, Interior
Ministry and Romania's Intelligence Service (SRI) as civilian parts in the
trial. A Customs General Direcorate notice says the Romanian State lost 17
billion lei following the cigarette smuggling in Otopeni. RADOR
[07] Romanian social democrat groups welcoming the SDP victory in German
elections
The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Mr Petre Roman, has welcomed on Monday
the victory of the social democrats in the German elections and the
election of Gerhard Schroeder as new German Chancellor. He said he was glad
that the social democrat ideology was now dominating Europe as the social
democrats came to power in Germany, France and Britain. Mr Roman said he
was convinced that his Democratic Party (PD) was the winning alternative in
Romania's next elections as a leadiSg party able to achieve the reform. The
PD leader did not rule out his party's cooperation with the PDSR in the
future, though he qualified as speculation any information about the issue.
RADOR
ApR welcomes the SDP comeback to power after long years of opposition. In a
political statement issued to the RRA, the ApR says the victory added to
other major social democrat victories such as in Britain and France
announcing a genuine social democrat era in Europe. ApR mentions that
Gerhard Schroeder is representing the pragmatic social democracy interested
in providing new solutions concerning Germany's economic growth and
European integration. RADOR
[08] Further debates in the "Caspian Energy to Europe" conference
The World Trade Centre in Bucharest hosted further debates as part of the
international conference on the "Caspian Energy to Europe". In his opening
speech on Monday, Romanian Prime Minister Radu Vasile has mentioned the
names of four American companies who appliedSfor the US Trade and
Development Agency (USTDA) bid over the project of an oilpipe linking the
port of Constantza and the Italian port of Trieste. The USTDA has provided
the "Concordia Petroliera Romana" consortium with 650,000 USD as financing
for a study on a future oilpipe crossing Romanian, Hungarian and Slovenian
territories. RADOR
[09] Prime Minister Radu Vasile to attend the World Bank-IMF joint meeting
Romanian Prime Minister Radu Vasile is due to Washington this week to
attend the opening session of the World Bank-IMF joint meeting. The
Romanian delegation is also including Romania's National Bank Governor
Mugur Isarescu, Finance Minister Decebal Traian Remes and other financial
experts who are expected to attend all the World Bank-IMF sessions to end
on October 6. RADOR
[10] Closing session of the conference on "Cultural Similarities in
Danubian Region"
The second edition of the international conference on "Cultural
Similarities in Danubian Region" has eneded iS Baile Herculane on Monday.
Participants included more than 40 senior officials in universities along
with researchers in Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Hungary and
Romania. RADOR
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